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To help us deliver analysis we are looking for economists to join us and influence the day-to-day lives of every person in the UK.

The Government Economic Service is at the heart of everything government does with high quality economic analysis essential to decision making in everything from negotiating new trade deals to building HS2, from supporting regional growth to managing the UK’s debt.

This is an exciting time to be joining the civil service, and with continuous support you’ll prepare vital briefings for ministers or the public, provide advice on policy options, and ensure the quality and appropriate use of economic statistics.

Applicants will need to possess or expected to have a first or upper second class honours degree with at least 50% of the modules in economics, or have a masters in economics.

The Royal Economic Society’s Undergraduate Video Competition is back for a second year. For your chance to win £1000 you have until the 27 July 2018 to send us your 3-minute video focusing on a topical economic issue.

Entries should explore how economics can be used to understand current issues; it should be clear and understandable to non-economists and they should be able to get their point across without relying on economic jargon.

There are no set topics – videos could be on a major issue such as the implications of Brexit, the possibility of a trade war, the importance of diversity & inequality, the productivity gap, or any other economic concepts that students wish to explore.

With the opening of the new Amazon Go store in Seattle, many people can’t help but wonder about the impact automation is having on the employment market. Amazon’s new store involves simply walking in, picking up your products and walking out – no checkout service included. The way customers pay for products is through in-store sensors, which monitor the items placed in a person’s basket and bill those products to their Amazon Prime account. It may sound simple, but software developers have been working on the idea for years. Amazon are now considering opening around 200 similar stores across the United States.

For economists, Monarch’s collapse is, in many ways, not surprising – it was operating in an oligopolistic market, already hugely saturated and with little product differentiation. For others, the airline’s demise seemed to happen almost overnight. This wasn’t the case and in this blog, I will go through each of the factors which simultaneously led to Monarch’s collapse, discussing each in turn.

When discussing Artificial Intelligence (hereafter AI), many envisage computer systems that are able to take on similar cognitive functions to the human brain and worry that there will no longer be a place for many skilled workers in key industries. The image of mass unemployment due to robot Armageddon is a common one portrayed in the media. While, some of the potential benefits of the rise of intelligent computer systems, for example in the pharmaceutical industry, are often ignored.

The huge increase in interest towards autonomous vehicles has caused concern for numerous vehicle manufacturers across the globe. Many now see technology firms as being better placed than carmakers to develop and profit from the software that will underpin automated driving (The Economist, 2016). Tesla is a key example, given that it did not originally set out to be a vehicle manufacturer but is now the most valuable car company in the US. But is this really a cause for concern for core vehicle manufacturers?

Gig workers are those who work small jobs, commonly referred to as ‘gigs’, instead of, or perhaps on top of, a full-time job and are paid for the amount of ‘gigs’ they undertake. Their employment status is somewhat confusing to many. Given the digital revolution, it is becoming hard to avoid articles discussing the so-called gig economy given the increasing amount of new companies operating under such a casual structure. Certain couriers, Deliveroo, Uber and AirBnB are just some examples of companies which fall under the gig economy category and there are increasing reports discussing the legal rights of those ‘employed’ by such companies. Indeed, Uber is a prime example: a recent ruling declared that its drivers cannot be classified as self-employed, as Uber wanted, and are thus entitled to the national living wage and holiday pay. Airbnb is also undergoing legal action in New York given a new law which enables the escalating of fines on homeowners who rent out their property for less than 30 days. As court cases and employment tribunals against such companies are on the rise, this blog discusses how regulatory rules are affecting these companies. It also takes account of the huge tax windfall that the UK government could gain as a result.

Studies into the idea of a universal basic income (UBI) have recently gained visible traction in academia and much more prominence in the media, following the introduction of pilot schemes in Finland and California. Scotland is also set to see trials in two Labour-run areas, following the party’s establishment of a new working group to look into its viability. As well as these examples, Namibia has considered the introduction of UBI, the Netherlands will be holding an experiment on UBI this year, Brazil continues to hold trials (it has been on the cards since the 1980s), 10,000 people have signed up in support of basic income in Canada, and India’s 2016-2017 Economic Survey has identified that the Indian Government believe UBI is a better approach to reducing poverty than current state benefits. In light of this, this blog post explores why UBI is gaining support from policy strategists, governments and entrepreneurs alike, and whether it could be a viable solution to some of the big issues of our time.

Charlie Bean is a professor of economics at the London School of Economics and former president of the Royal Economic Society (2013–15). He was deputy governor of the Bank of England from July 2008 to June 2014. Prior to that, he was executive director and chief economist from October 2000. Charlie has also held positions at HM Treasury and Stanford University. In addition, he has published widely — in both professional journals and more popular media — on European unemployment, on European monetary union, and on macroeconomics generally.

AL Where did you first study economics?

CB I did economics as a subsidiary subject at school (my main subjects were mathematics, further mathematics and physics). I started out by doing mathematics at Cambridge University but switched to economics in my second year after I had discovered that quantum mechanics was very beautiful and elegant, but I didn’t have the foggiest notion what was going on!

The Royal Economic Society and the Economics Network are starting an annual video competition, aimed at undergraduates, in order to improve the learning of how economics applies to the real world.

Students have free rein to choose topics and videos should take the form of a three-minute mini-documentary, aimed at a non-specialist audience. The aim of the video is to show an understanding of the real world and to communicate economic insights in a clear and intelligible way. Humour is encouraged! Read the rest of this entry »